


The New Hire

by nadia5803



Series: liaisons by nadia [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Mother-Son Relationship, Original Character(s), Politics, Serbian Duo, Soft af
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:00:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23335027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nadia5803/pseuds/nadia5803
Summary: Svetlana gets to know her new hire a bit better. A.K.A the beginning of a long-lasting and tight mother/son relationship.
Series: liaisons by nadia [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1631752
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	The New Hire

Svetlana had her coat on and let the security details know that she would be leaving. Her heels clicked down the hallway floor, and as she walked down, she began to hear another clicking in tandem. The sound of computer keys and aggressive typing. She stopped at a shut door, glanced at the glare of blue light beneath it, and then glanced at the room number.

A tired smile crossed her face, and she knocked on the door with the side of her fist. “Knock knock,” she said, slinging her bag over her arm as the door slid open and Cvetko appeared in the frame, disheveled, red-eyed, dressed fashionably in a sweatshirt and sweatpants. “Oh, Ms. Arsic,” he murmured, pausing to yawn. “Fancy seeing you at this hour.”

“Svetlana, please. What are you still doing awake, honey? You’ve been allowed to leave since…” she glanced down at her watch. “Ah. 7 o’clock. Four hours ago. Please go home,” Svetlana said, placing her hands behind her back with a slight smile.

  
“Ah, no, it’s alright. I told the security guards already. I’m doing some extra work,” he said with a forced smile, leaning against the doorframe with a sleepy nudge to his eyeglasses.

“But you’re still doing work during the daytime?” Svetlana

  
“Of course, Ms. Arsic.”

  
“Svetlana.”

  
“... Svetlana,” he nodded and rubbed his eyes. “Sorry, I’m not used to that. Um. I’m a bit of a workaholic,” Cvetko said, looking up at her and then back down at his feet. “I’ll leave.”

  
“Can I ask what you’re working so hard on this late?” Svetlana paused and looked down the hall then back at Cvetko. “Let me rephrase. May I come in?”

“Um… yes, of course!” Cvetko straightened and his hand found the lightswitch, and he flipped it on. Svetlana took a peek inside the room and tried not to display her surprise. She had felt a little bad for repurposing the old postage room as the office for her new Minister of Finance, but it seems that he’d been able to retouch the room rather quickly. The shelves and cubbies were meticulously stacked with files and manila envelopes, each separate one denoted by a different shade of tape beneath. He’d even spruced up his own desk. A new lamp, his own computer setup, filing cabinet after filing cabinet underneath the table. A tiny picture frame on his desk, subtly hidden behind a gargantuan stack of papers.

“Well, what I see from this is that we should go paperless,” Svetlana joked, taking another look around the small space.

Cvetko snorted and pulled out his chair, plopping back down on it and shifting the stack of papers onto his lap. She couldn’t help but stare at his tiny shoes that barely even reached the floor. He cleared his throat and began to progress into his babble. “Alright, so… Minister of Finance, right? So, I’ve been researching our financial records recently. Okay, well, I’m an accountant. That’s what I went to university for. That’s what I do. But I’ve been looking at each individual record for each specific day, month, year, for the last 10 years.”

“That seems like an awful lot of work, dear.”

“It’s not. I mean, I can handle it. It’s nothing like what I had at the firm,” he rolled his eyes and carefully pushed up his glasses. “I’m just trying to figure out where to push the money. Current priorities, previous priorities, payments, invoices, debts. Things that can be reallocated, things that can’t. I’m sure you understand,” Cvetko muttered, placing the stack of papers back on the desk.

  
Svetlana raised an eyebrow and nodded. “Yes,” she smiled at him and placed a hand on his chair.

“There’s a bit of an anomaly, though,” he said, crossing his legs and propping his head up on his hand.

Here we go. Svetlana smiled and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Mhmm?”

“Every year since your presidency began there has been a payment of 150,000 dollars to an anonymous recipient.”

Of course. He found out. Damn it, not again. Svetlana was good at hiding her internal panic. Shoot, she thought the kid was civic, not obsessive. She smiled at him and nodded. “Continue?”

  
“I mean, it’s not a lot. It’s not an awful lot of money. But it can be reallocated to many more important and specific things that need some funding. Infrastructure, education, technology, diplomacy. Is this a diplomatic thing? I, um… I’m sorry, I hope I’m not overstepping here, Ms. Arsic, but can you… er…” She couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry as he struggled to find the right words. “Are you at liberty to disclose the nature of the annual payment to a person of my level?” Cvetko forced a grin and clasped his hands together.

  
“I’m afraid I am not. At least not yet.”

“Yes, I understand. Of course. My apologies,” Cvetko smiled halfheartedly again and placed the stack of papers back onto his desk and began to shuffle through them, separating them and opening the file cabinets under his desk. “This is my sort later cabinet, the top one. I’ll be sure to sort or return these tomorrow,” he mumbled.

“You can keep them.”

“What?” Cvetko almost dropped the stack he was holding. He looked up at her, a bit shocked and slack-jawed, as she grinned at him. 

“Keep them. I appreciate what you’re doing. God knows the rest of my cabinet would not be staying up until 11:30 sorting through records. Where’d you get your work ethic from, sweetheart?” Svetlana tapped her foot and ran a hand through her hair.

  
“Oh, I, um- sorry.”

“You keep apologizing,” Svetlana placed her suitcase down and walked over to him, letting her coat drop beneath her shoulders. “You don’t have to apologize to me. Or refer to me by an official title or whatever. I get it. You worked at a government law firm for 3 years. You just graduated from college. I completely understand. But there’s no reason to be scared of me. Don’t feel guilty about whatever you’re doing. You’re not doing anything wrong, alright? I’m here to support you. See, that’s a bit incoherent. I’m a tad sleepy. But I’m not going to apologize because I didn’t do anything wrong,” Svetlana chuckled and adjusted the watch on her wrist, flashing a warm smile down at him. 

Cvetko went slack-jawed and wide-eyed again, his face flushing red.

“Ah, you’re like a deer in the headlights, little Cvetko. You’re fine, promise. A bit inexperienced with this whole politics thing, but fine. I know this is all a little spontaneous…” she crouched down to his height. “But I have faith in your capability. I picked you for a reason. Every person in that firm has said nothing but good things about you. You’ll get used to the promotion over time.”

He blushed and adjusted his glasses. “Thank you, Ms. Ar- Svetlana. Thank you. I appreciate it. I am a little inexperienced, and this was all a little out of the blue, but I’m happy to be serving you here.”

Svetlana nodded and took another look around the office. “You really touched this place up. It looks fantastic. I was a bit worried that you would feel cramped here, but you really made it your own.”

“I didn’t even get my own office, so, yes. This is rather nice.”

  
Svetlana bent down and studied his desk. Pink graphing calculator hidden behind his monitor. Various pens and sticky notes littered everywhere. The single picture frame. “May I see your photograph?”

  
“Of course.”

Svetlana picked it up and studied it. It was Cvetko, of course, probably a bit shorter then he already was. She counted the row of people. The final in a row of 11. Two parents on the edge, and then…

  
“I pray this is your extended family.”

  
“No.”

  
“No?”

  
“I’m the youngest of 9,” Cvetko reddened, shyly rubbing his neck as she stared at the picture, dumbfounded.

“Christ, honey. Your parents must be proud of you,” she chuckled as she placed the picture frame back on his desk. 

“I, uh… I didn’t tell them yet…” he trailed off, looking guilty as he shut off his computer and reached for his briefcase and jacket.

“What? Why not?” Svetlana shifted her weight and cocked an eyebrow.

“Well. I thought this whole thing was an orchestrated prank at first. I now realize it is not. I’ll call them tomorrow,” Cvetko snickered and set the briefcase on his chair as he climbed out of it.

“Good! Good. I’m sure they’ll be very pleased with you.” 

Cvetko nodded and threw his coat on and grabbed his suitcase. “Thank you for everything, Svetlana. It’s been a real crazy few days. This whole adjustment thing… but, your support means a lot.”

“You’re welcome, little Cvetko. Now, would you like to walk to the lot together?”

“I would love to.”

**Author's Note:**

> also ALSO known as svetlana is involved in some sleazy business dealings and cvetko has uncovered parental issues and will become emotionally attached to her


End file.
